King Tutankhamun's tomb: Evidence grows for hidden chamber

bbc ^

[BenLurkin]

Archaeologist Nicholas Reeves believes Tutankhamun's remains may have been rushed into an outer chamber of what was originally Queen Nefertiti's tomb.

The remains of Tutankhamun, who may have been her son, were found in 1922. He died 3,000 years ago aged 19.

...

Dr Reeves developed his theory after the Spanish artistic and preservation specialists, Factum Arte, were commissioned to produce detailed scans of Tutankhamun's tomb.

The scans were then used to produce a facsimile of the 3,300-year-old tomb near the site of the original Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

While assessing the scans last February, Dr Reeves spotted what he believed were marks indicating where two doorways used to be.

The archaeologist from the University of Arizona says he believes Nefertiti may lie inside.

Tutankhamun's tomb was the most intact ever discovered in Egypt. Close to 2,000 objects were found inside.

But its layout has been a puzzle for some time - in particular, why it was smaller than those of other kings' tombs.

[Wolfie]

Full of wheat?

[Georgia Girl 2]

Grain chamber? :-)

[Pearls Before Swine]

Beat me to it. I was going to say “Hidden grain chamber?”

[bakeneko]

May be better to leave it lie for a later generation that won’t allow Muslims to destroy whatever’s in there.

[oh8eleven]

... in particular, why it was smaller than those of other kings' tombs.
Tut died unexpectedly and at such a young age they hadn't even started his tomb. Naturally, they used what was available and not being a king's tomb, it was smaller.

[Little Ray]

Could a quick application of ground penetrating radar answer the question?

[butlerweave]

Bathroom

[crosdaddy]

Man Cave,to get away from the women folk.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Not to mention that his uncle or father Akhenaten had just about ruined the Kingdom. There was a great deal of rebuilding to do and not a lot of money to do it.

[volunbeer]

The science of this is quite interesting as scanning technology through solid objects or the ground improves. This would be a fascinating find!

The science being used holds great promise for the future. Imagine what this capability means for the industries of mining and energy or the fields of archaeology or well drilling.

[joesbucks]

Same here.

[Paladin2]

Doesn’t the petroleum industry have CATscan techniques to answer this sort of question?

[jennychase]

We have to see how fast Jihadi blow this place.

[Don Corleone]

Full of wheat?

As some ancient astronaut theorists believe.

[PIF]

Maybe if they’d use use the same tech on the Temple of the Nile, the Temple of the Sphinx, and outer part of Menkaura’s pyramid at Giza, we’d find even more hidden stuff.

[wildbill]

It would be the 2nd untouched tomb ever found and would come with the obligatory mummy’s curse and undead guardian Imhotep.

This would also settle the unsolved mystery of where Imhotep was buried.

If they find a false wall and break through someone simply has to say, “I see beautiful things.”

Can’t wait.

[Yogafist]

Shhh! I am sure the History Channel has a couple brothers who can spend quite a few TV seasons trying to figure out whether the Knights Templar, or the Mayans dug the tomb and there hid the Holy Grail, or the Ark of the Covenant. If they go straight to solving the mystery it will kill years of advertising.

[Organic Panic]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let it be filled with grain.

Just like that one MacGuyver episode where MacGuyver does some tomb raiding for “gold” but it turns out the gold was really a grain supply.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin and wildbill.

Archaeologist Nicholas Reeves believes Tutankhamun's remains may have been rushed into an outer chamber of what was originally Queen Nefertiti's tomb... Dr Reeves developed his theory after the Spanish artistic and preservation specialists, Factum Arte, were commissioned to produce detailed scans... then used to produce a facsimile of the... tomb... Reeves spotted what he believed were marks indicating where two doorways used to be.

I'm 99% sure Nefertiti isn't in either of these spaces. A few years back, Reeves claimed that KV-63, a pit tomb not far from KV-62, would hold Nefertiti's burial. It didn't. The Egyptian antiquities people had an infrared survey done last month, it verified that there probably are spaces behind those walls. This led to the past week's radar examination to determine if the infrared and visual inspections were correct.

Y'know, I wish they'd just get a long titanium bit, drill one hole in each spot, and have a look using fiber optics. This could have been done months ago after Reeves first spotted the (btw, obvious as hell) cracks of each opening. But, nooooooo -- gotta get all fancy with infrared and radar, just to make it look like we're not dealing with medieval savages who only started wearing shoes after WWII.